AMONG THE KURDS
[Illustration: A KURDISH SHEPHERD.]
THEY started early the next morning. The road first led through a
plain, between rice fields flooded with water from a large ditch. Next
it wound past vineyards with bunches of white and purple grapes, and
fields of glistening wheat stubble. Then, passing up a long valley,
they crossed uplands covered with thick rich grass, quite different
from the bare hills so often seen. In the distance grazed large flocks
of sheep, guarded by Kurdish shepherds, stern, wild-looking men, with
baggy trousers and jackets of many colours, and large peaked felt hats.
Each had several daggers in his belt. They were followed by dogs as
large and almost as fierce as wolves.
Beyond, on entering a little valley, they suddenly came upon the tents
of an encampment of Kurds. The tents were of thick black felt, long
and irregular in shape, and held up by a great many poles. The flaps
were partly open for the air. There was not much to be seen inside;
rugs here and there lay on the ground, and bedding was rolled in large
bundles. A few dishes and kettles were near the hearth, and here and
there hung large sheep skins sewed into a rounded shape and filled with
milk ready to be churned.
On the poles hung guns and daggers, and bridles for the horses, with
the saddles and saddle-cloths beneath. The horses themselves were
grazing near by, each tethered by his leg with a rope to a stake. When
the Persians appeared the women and children rushed into the tents,
from which they looked out on the party, the dogs barked fiercely, and
the few men who were lounging around with their guns handy scowled
darkly when they replied to the major's "Peace be with you."
They stopped for the night in a village at the foot of a small cliff,
on whose crest were the ruined walls of a castle. Karim walked up to
see it.
The wall, of cobble stone, had once been about twelve feet high and
went around that part of the crest not protected by the cliff. Within
were the tumbled walls of houses, and three large cracked cisterns,
meant to catch rain water. On the farther side was the arched opening
to an underground passage, whose round top here and there had been
uncovered by the rains, so that he traced it stretching down the brown
hillside to a spot below covered with green grass. Near him, in the
wall, was a gateway, protected by a tower of cut stone. Near this tower
was a strange recess that seemed cut into the rock.
The village boys with Karim said that this was a holy place, because
the prophet Ali had been there. He had been flying through the air when
going home from a visit to a holy shrine, and had stopped to rest. As
he leaned back against the rock he pushed it in and so made the recess.
He was able to do such a wonderful thing because he was a very holy man.
That evening Karim heard the story of the destruction of the castle.
Here it is:
About fifty years before, the castle was the home of a Kurdish chief,
or sheikh, who gave a great deal of trouble to the governor in the
city. He robbed the villages and the caravans, and never paid taxes or
gave any presents to the governor. The governor did not have enough
soldiers to punish the sheikh, so at last the ruler of the province
came with an army and besieged the castle. He placed guards on all
sides, so that no one could go in or come out. He put a cannon on a
large white stone on the hillside opposite, and fired at the castle.
This troubled the sheikh very much, but still he did not surrender. So
the Persians called the peasants who lived in the villages near by and
asked them how the sheikh was able to get water to drink. Some peasants
told about the secret passage down to water, but as it was carefully
covered no one knew just where to find it. So the Persian ruler took a
mule, and ordered that for several days it be given plenty of food,
but no water to drink. In this way the mule became very thirsty. Then
the ruler ordered his men to lead it slowly around the castle. When the
mule had been led almost all the way around it suddenly stopped and
began pawing the ground, because it smelled water. Here the Persians
dug into the earth, and found the secret passage way.
Then the sheikh in the castle called his men together, with their wives
and children, who were with them. He told them that there was no more
hope, for they had no water, but that they must not fall alive into
the hands of the cruel Persians. Still, he said, he would not ask them
to kill their own wives and children. He would let these surrender if
they wished to, but not a man must surrender. The women cried out that
they would rather die than be taken prisoners. And so they rushed with
their children to the cliff and threw themselves over it to death--all
except one, whose clothes broke the fall. The men opened the castle
gate, and, rushing out, fought fiercely until all had been killed by
their foes.